Monthly Archives: December 2008

Did you realize Pound Puppies are back? No not the live ones, but the cute stuffed animals by Russ that were originally around in the 80’s. I find it funny how toys come back after so many years and try to make a come back into the modern day toy world. I am not so sure if Pound Puppies have made a full comeback, but I think a lot of people like them from my Squidoo stats on my Pound Puppy Page. Russ did take these cute love-able mutts to an on-line world to maybe take some buyers away from Webkinz and all of those web based toys. Well either way they are cute – I have had one in my past, but now my pound puppies actually come from the real pound. So I think it taught me a good lesson and maybe kids will grow up and help save the pet population by getting a real pound puppy like I did. But for now these soft plush toys should do the trick.

So I guess I should talk about Squidoo – being that is what the large majority of my Blog is all about. I joined Squidoo back in August 2007 mainly to promote my party business – The Party Animal. Which is what I did – at first. I am not sure how I found it – maybe through a search or something. So I thought it looked like a great way to promote myself so I made a page – well what they call a lens on Squidoo. I found it was so easy to do and it was bringing traffic my way and one thing led to another and I became addicted – which is very easy to do.

Yes I am now a full fledged Squidoo Addict.

What I really love about Squidoo is that it is so user friendly – anyone can do it. My nephew is even doing it at age 7 – I mean he has some work to do, but that is how easy it is. The next best thing is you can make money by writing about things you like. The money is made from links you post on the lenses (pages) to products on Amazon, EBay, Banners and others you can choose from. When someone clicks off and purchases an item you get a percentage of that sale. Now I would not quit your day job – it is not a get rich quick type thing, but each month I have been making more and more money. Oh did I mention it is FREE? The other wonderful thing about Squidoo is: you can donate some or all of your money earned to charity. A lot of people in the Squidoo community do that which I think is wonderful. I do as well, but not all of it.

I also use Squidoo to promote my EBay – so when I have my overstock items listed from my party business it is just more traffic to my EBay to help increase my sales.

But best of all I found out I love to write and I choose things I know and enjoy. I have learned so much not only from doing research for my pages, but from others who write there as well. The Squidoo Community is wonderful and we are mostly all in it for the same thing – the joy of writing, making money, promoting our businesses and giving to charity. So if that sounds like something for you – then check out my :

www.ThePartyAnimal.org is really where it all starts for me in my party business. I was so proud to have started my own business doing what it is I love and that is keeping young and planning parties for the kids. I have always been a very creative person who can get an idea and run with it. I think that is what parents like about my planning. The other thing that is big for me is that I hate the same old thing. I try to always make sure every party is different – I do not care to have the same party as my neighbor. I also do a lot of custom work as well – like posters and hand painted clothing on request. I will really do just about anything for parents when it comes to parties.

Stuff a Plush Party

The biggest part of my party business is the Stuffable Plush – similar to Build a Bear the children get to stuff the plush at their homes for a fraction of the cost of going to a store to do so. I normally do not host the parties, but provide parents with everything they need to do so themselves. It not only saves money, but the kids love to have the kids in their homes. Some parents steer away from the home parties due to not wanting kids running all over the place being destructive. I say OK – BUT if you have planned activities that will not happen – that only happens to the un-organized parents.

I work with anyone anywhere – I ship products the least expensive way and will work with parents on a budget. Being a parent myself I know all about saving money. Parties can really get out of hand. The kids really enjoy making their own stuffed toy and then that toy becomes a party favor as well. I also have Pajamas the kids can decorate, as well as T-Shirts for their new friends which makes yet another activity for the party. The stuff-able plush end of it is endless and there are so many themes you can do utilizing them. The other good thing is that I can get pretty much anything a parent is looking for when it comes to that. Not everything is on my website – there is just so much. I will work with the parents to figure out what the best products are for their party and budget.

The other hottest party going right now is the Webkinz Birthday Party Theme and you can read about that also right here on my blog or by visiting my website. I must also note The Party Animal is not affiliated in any way with the Ganz company. We just provide parents with all the tools they need to have a special Birthay party for their children without going crazy.

Yup I have a dog who is a Power Chewer and as I write this he and the others are chewing bones right behind me. A holiday treat they got for Christmas. I do not give them rawhide too often due to the fact they race each other to see who will eat theirs first and then later I pay the price as I clean up vomit – ewww.

Anyhow – my dog Rosco is my power chewer in the family. I think he has jaws of steel. People say he looks like a pitt bull mix, but he is a mutt from the pound and to me is just a complete mush – with a mean look.

So of course I made a Squidoo page dedicated to him and all of the toys that he loves and cannot chew into bits and pieces and there are a few out there. Even some of the ones I have found to say indestructible have been destructible with him. And I know he is not the only Power Chewer out there. When I say Power Chewer I am not talking a puppy who eats your couch or shoes – I had that happen too. I am talking a dog who can eat through the toughest of toys made.

Now I cannot say that all those toys I have listed will with stand the power of your dogs jaw, but I must say if they made it through my dogs jaw – then there is a pretty good chance they will survive.

Yes Rosco looks some what harmless – but that jaw of his – well that is another story………

So here is my take on the Wii Fit Game for the Wii. Now this is the only game for the Wii I actually bought for myself – a Mother’s Day Gift last year. Good thing I pre-ordered this at that time to insure I would get it, because they are still hard to find. Of course I bought two, one for me and one to sell to make money, but my sister in law had to have it so I sold it to her for regular price. Oh well.

So of course I bought it as my new diet plan – cause I hate to exercise – like most of us. When i got it the motivation was tremendous. The game is awesome and so much fun to play and it really gives the couch potato a work out. As far as keeping up with doing it everyday – well that went out the window like most of those diets do.

I still say Wii Fit is a must have – it truly is a lot of fun – of course when you are motivated enough to play it.

I just cannot believe that it is still so hard to come by, but the other cool thing about it is you can buy other games that will work with the Wii Balance board. I do not have any of those yet, but I am sure in time my kids will get some. I did list all of them that I know of so far on my Squidoo page.

How odd to be writing about a litter box, but when I find a product that I love I have to tell everyone. Ok who would love a litter box? Well me for the simple reason that I have 6 cats and always hate the part of changing the litter. I always had basic type of box with your basic clay litter and it was getting expensive to change all the time and with 6 cats you had to do it often obviously. So awhile back I started looking at what the best boxes out there were. I considered getting one of those electronic ones, but after reading reviews I read they broke alot and they were a bit pricey. I also looked at the kind you can hook up to the toilet – now that was cool, but a weird thing to have in your bathroom. So I then found this one:

I read the reviews on it and watched some video on how it worked and I thought it looked very cool. So I went to the pet store – I think it was Petsmart and bought it for under $30. Now it uses the clumping litter which is a bit more expensive than your regular clay litter, but I have to tell you in the long run I save so much money. What I love about this box so much is how easy it is to clean and I do it multiple times a day to avoid odors. MY cats like it too – which is a plus. I even have a Maine Coon who I was worried about fitting his big butt in there at 20 pounds and going and he fits just fine.

All you do is roll it upside down and then back to the opposite side a bit and the drawer catches all the clumps. You pull out the draw and dump them into a bag and you are done. I do have to add more litter every few days and every couple weeks I give it a thorough cleaning. I have to say it beats the old way by far. So again I made a Squidoo page on it and share it with everyone who wants a inexpensive Litter box that is easy to keep clean.

I truly think it is the Best Litter Box out there. If you visit my Squidoo page you can see a video I have posted there to see it in action. I know you will thank me if you get one of these for your self – I just know it.

So I have a Wii – most do these days I think. We got it for the kids last year for Christmas. I absolutely love it and so do they. I find it so much fun and there are so many games available. The last console before this for us was the XBox and there were not many games for my daughter – I think we have all the games that are girly for that.

So I was so excited for the Wii and being able to find games that are geared towards Girls. So with that I decided to make a Squidoo page featuring what I thought are all the games that are geared towards the girls. It is the:

I guess it was a good thing I put that together because I have gotten so many hits to that page – seems I am not the only one looking for girls games for the Wii. Of course my daughter has a bunch of them and being a girl myself I play them too.

I keep it updated with the newest games coming out and there are some good ones – I even added on game previews and reviews so you can get a sneak peek at the game. I always recommend checking reviews on the games before buying them – what may look good may really be bad – so always look for reviews before spending that $50 bucks on a game.